Muslim man dies after severe beating in police custody

A 22-year-old Muslim man, Abu Siddique Halder, died soon after he was severely beaten in police custody in West Bengal. The victim’s family has alleged that their son was murdered, reporting that he died after returning home from police custody severely ill. 

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a third term after India’s general elections, there has been a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes in north and eastern India. 

Kashmiri lawyer arrested in midnight raid, charged under draconian law

Advocate Nazir Ahmad Ronga, a vocal critic of the Modi government’s abrogation of Kashmir’s autonomous status, has been arrested under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). His family reported that he was picked up from his residence in the middle of the night, without an arrest warrant.

Nazir’s arrest follows the arrest of Mian Qayoom, another advocate who was arrested last month as a suspect in the murder of advocate Babar Qadri, who was killed in 2020 by two unidentified gunmen.

Police and Hindu supremacists raid cafe, allege “cafe jihad”

In Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, members of the Hindu supremacist cow vigilante group Gau Raksha Dal Bharat joined  police officials in carrying out a raid on a cafe. Ludicrously, they accused the establishment of “cafe jihad”.

Recently, police in Uttar Pradesh shut down two cafes and arrested a cafe owner for allegedly selling beef burgers as part of their menu, after a local Hindu supremacist leader complained that the food items hurt Hindu sentiments. In Gujarat’s Vadodara, police shut down a shop over allegations of selling beef kebabs and samosas.